Kalmar Nyckel is the most dramatically decorated boat at the festival.

She's a replica of the Dutch Pinnace built in Amsterdam c. 1625 and sailed to the New World in 1638 to establish a Swedish Colony.

The Colony was dubbed New Sweden, at the head of the Delaware Bay, which is now Wilmington Delaware.

New Sweden was the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley. Here is her grand poop deck.

Schooner 'Mystic Whaler'is a charter vessel sailing out of New London CT

The Brady bunch rowing past 'Mystic Whaler'

'Mystic Whaler' was built in 1967 , a reproduction of a late 19thC. coastal cargo schooner.

She even has a brick grill! These folks know how to do it.

One of the smaller boats at the festival was this 14 1/2' Pacific Pelican, built by Allan Hedgers in Greenich, NJ

Owner Floyd Beam reconfigured the mast with this tabernacle system which allows him to continue to sail the boat singlehanded despite some back issues.

The charming H 28 'Gwylan' again returned with owner Roger Pritchard at her helm.

There were a bevy of vendors this year, and I found these guys the most amusing, by a long shot.

The aforementioned John Schwarzenbach's sweet little Comet was beautifully restoredat the ISM's workshop.

Framed by the bowsprits of both 'Hindu' and 'Meerwald', the 'Pride of Baltimore II'

copyright Thomas Armstrong

I have to hand it to John Brady, his staff and the volunteers at the Independence Seaport Museum. John had a vision a couple of years ago about how to grow this festival and it's paying off. There were more ships (7), more visitors and more vendors than ever before, despite dire weather forecasts, which as you can see from my photos, did not hold sway. I went down on Sunday, it was a beautiful day, a bit windy. These ships are amazing, every one of them, and seem to be a big hit with the public. All the schooners present traveled on down to Baltimore after the festival to compete in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

My only disappointment was the paucity of small craft, which I am sure will be rectified in the future.

I have given more attention to ships new to the festival this year. If you'd like more of 'Gazella', 'Meerwald', 'Pride of Baltimore II' and the 'Kalmar Nyckel', see my post from last year.This is a great festival, and growing, make plans to attend next year!

The restoration of skipjack 'Rosie Parks' is nearing completion.Two days after this photo was taken she was set in the water to begin swelling up and have her spars added.

Chesapeake treat. Cheese and pickle plate is a local favorite side dish for steamed crabs.

All photos copyright Thomas Armstrong

As always, this gathering is a favorite destination each year and never fails to reward. This year, however, due to unforseen circumstances, I am not able to give a full report. Begging your indulgance, however, I urge you to seek out many (and I mean many) more photos of the weekend by visiting my friend Barry Long's website. Barry was there all weekend, took scads of photos and is publishing them on his Eyeinhand website, in the Marginalia section. Barry is a very skilled photographer and his images are stunning. Don't miss these. Also find more photos posted by the Museum on their Facebook page here. Hopefully I'll have a more complete report next year, but in the mean time there's plenty to savor at these two sites.

Thanks to John Ford and Tracey Munson @ the CBMM for their genorous support.

seventy point eight is the percentage of ocean to landmass on our planet. get wet...a rambling personal collection of news, books, images, ideas, and whatever else I find interesting relating to our aqueous environment..with an emphasis on small boats, sailing, boat design and designers and boatbuilding and builders, especially home builders. And a certain curiosity about seasteading. Header photo:'Salarøy' is a 41' fembøring, a Norwegian workboat inTromsø Norway. Courtesy Hildringstimens båtgalleri - http://www.hildringstimen.no/batlista.htm